As a disabled person, you have rights to protect you from discrimination. These rights cover most areas including:

  • employment
  • education
  • dealing with the police

The Equality Act 2010 and the United Nations (UN) Convention on disability rights help to enforce, protect and promote your rights.

Employment:

It’s against the law for employers to discriminate against you because of a disability. The Equality Act 2010 protects you and covers areas including:

  • application forms
  • interview arrangements
  • aptitude or proficiency tests
  • job offers
  • terms of employment, including pay
  • promotion, transfer and training opportunities
  • dismissal or redundancy
  • discipline and grievances

Education:

It’s against the law for a school or other education provider to treat disabled students unfavourably. This includes:

  • direct discrimination, for example refusing admission to a student because of disability
  • indirect discrimination, for example only providing application forms in one format that may not be accessible
  • discrimination arising from a disability, for example a disabled pupil is prevented from going outside at break time because it takes too long to get there
  • harassment, for example a teacher shouts at a disabled student for not paying attention when the student’s disability stops them from easily concentrating
  • victimisation, for example suspending a disabled student because they’ve complained about harassment

Police:

If you’re being questioned or interviewed at a police station you have certain rights depending on your impairment.

To find out more please click here

 

Updated 25/08/2021